Oct, 2018 – Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
Book Group 1 Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a multi-generational saga mostly set in China that deals with more than 60 years of the country’s history, starting with the 1949 Communist Revolution moving onto the Cultural Revolution (1966) and climaxing with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. In between these major events in […]
Sep 2018 The Travelling Cat Chronicles
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa Book Group 1 – September 28, 2018 Nana, the stray cat, landed on his feet. From home on the bonnet of a silver van in a Tokyo parking lot to the home of Satoru, his life was definitely looking up. In a new ‘international bestseller’ Hiro Arikawa has […]
Aug 2018 Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Book Group 2 Crazy Rich Asians is about three super rich pedigreed Chinese families. When Nicholas Young, who is the heir to one of the massive fortunes in Asia, brings home his ABC (American born Chinese girlfriend) to the wedding of the season, it generates gossip, scheming and drama. […]
Aug 2018 The Story of a Brief Marriage
The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam Book Group 1 The title of this tale brings assorted images and questions to mind: a young couple perhaps? (An affair and poof, it’s over?) A middle-aged couple decide to marry, but their union is upended by disease (or even worse…)? In actuality, The Story of […]
June 2018 – The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon Group 1 – June 2018 The Dressmaker of Khair Khana follows the lives of Kamila Sidiqi and her family during the years of Taliban occupation of Kabul in the 1990s. With women banned from working and required to remain at home, through sheer tenacity and ingenuity Kamila […]
May 2018 – When the Elephant Dance
When the Elephant Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe Book Group 1 – May 2018 Tess Uriza Holthe’s When the Elephants Dance is set in the dying days of World War II as the Japanese and Americans battle for possession of the Philippines. The ‘elephants’ of course are the Japanese who have occupied the land for […]
Apr 2018 Ghost Month
Ghost Month by Ed Lin Book Group 2 – April, 2018 Ghost Month by Ed Lin is set in contemporary Taipei and stimulated our lively discussion this morning. One contested point was whether we agreed with the review that claimed the book was “an ambitious, muddled tale of murder in a culture that sees itself as […]
Apr 2018 Garlic Ballads
Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan Book Group 1 – April The book club read Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan’s Garlic Ballads in April. This novel is set in rural China and is the story of the people living in Paradise County. They are peasants who mostly make their living growing garlic, and then there are the […]
Mar 2018 The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy Book Group 1 – March 2018 Roy’s book is about the vulnerable on the margins of society, outcasts who eventually come together and make a community in a Delhi graveyard. Two of the main characters are Anjum, a flamboyant transsexual or hijra, who is searching for her place […]
Feb 2018 The Leavers
The Leavers by Lisa Ko Book Group 2 Loosely based on a true story of a woman caught up in an immigration nightmare back in 2007, the book provided great discussion on immigration, legal and illegal, in the many different countries we have all lived. In addition, our feelings about Polly’s motherhood and her on-and-off […]